This was the fourth edition of the championship, which is conducted by the R&A and the Annika Foundation.
Clarisa Temelo earned the biggest victory of her life Sunday.
The 18-year-old from Mexico and freshman at Arkansas won the 2024 Women’s Amateur Latin America, running away from the field for a six-shot victory. Temelo finished at 9-under 275 for the week at Lima Golf Club in Peru.
“I tried to enjoy every shot,” Temelo said. “Walking down the 18th, I was thinking about what I was going to achieve and playing in three majors in 2025. It was a like a dream to me. Ela (Anacona) was at the University of Arkansas when she won last year, so it’s nice to follow her.”
With the win, Temelo earned exemptions into three major championships in 2025: the Chevron Championship, Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open. She also earned an exemption into the Women’s Amateur Championship next year.
“Each one of the tournaments are so important in golf,” Temelo said. “I played in a junior event at the Evian, the course is amazing and I’m looking forward to going back. Of course, the AIG Women’s Open is a dream and everyone wants to play in that one. The Chevron is also a major and I’m looking forward to playing in it.”
Clarisa Temelo won the Women’s Amateur Latin America and earned three major championship exemptions. (Photo: R&A)
She led wire-to-wire, though her margin of victory was only half as big as Anacona’s last year in Argentina.
This was the fourth edition of the championship, which is conducted by the R&A and the Annika Foundation. Next year, it heads to Mexico for the first time.
Just over six months ago, a 100-year flood rushed through the area, causing major damage.
TRINITY, Texas — Shea Morenz is not prone to hyperbole. A former University of Texas football quarterback and first-round pick of the New York Yankees, Morenz has seen his share of major sports stages and is largely unflappable on a golf course, where his smooth swing puts his athleticism clearly on display.
But during a recent round at Whispering Pines Golf Club, the top-rated private golf course in Texas and the host of the biennial Spirit International, even Morenz had to shake his head in awe.
A little more than six months ago, a 100-year flood rushed through the area, causing major damage to the Chet Williams-designed golf course and making this year’s edition of the Spirit International a long shot. The tournament, originally concocted by course founder Corby Robertson — Morenz’s father-in-law — welcomes two men and two women to represent their countries in a team event like no other.
Morenz, who witnessed the devastation first-hand, was amazed at how the pristine course shaped up after the onslaught of wet weather.
“It’s really incredible what has happened here,” Morenz said while playing the front nine of the course that takes up just a small segment of the 400-acre property about 90 minutes from Houston. “There was silt covering huge portions of this golf course. To see it in such amazing condition now is really incredible.”
Whispering Pines Golf Course in Texas suffered massive flooding in April 2024. (Photo courtesy Whispering Pines)
Originally, the course was born from a camp hosted on the property. and a game that Robertson called “olf, which is golf without the greens.” As part of the weekly routine, eager campers would hit shots off a tee to a wide-open “green” that was simply a pushed-up piece of turf with a washtub in the middle. The kids loved it.
Over time, Robertson and others realized this would be a prime piece of property for a golf course. By then, he’d become an energy magnate, first in oil, then in coal, and had the financial means to create the course. In the 1990s, when beetles started eating away some of the camp’s trees, he decided to make a go of it, starting with a series of three legit holes, then adding irrigation systems and creating the course that now tops Golfweek’s Best Private Courses in Texas list: Whispering Pines.
Soon after, in 2001, the Spirit International Amateur Golf Tournament was born, a biennial event with from each of 20 countries that span six continents.
The opening ceremonies were held Tuesday night and competition for the 2024 event starts Thursday and runs through Saturday. The American squad will look to extend a streak of five victories in the last six tournaments. With North Carolina senior David Ford, tall Texas star Tommy Morrison, talented USC freshman Jasmine Koo and high school phenom Asterisk Talley, the U.S. side is a solid bet once again.
The other countries represented include Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The Americans are led by former Spirit player Nathan Smith, who is serving as captain after Stacy Lewis passed the reins. Smith won the individual men’s event back in 2011 as well as the team title.
And while Robertson is eager to see the matches play out, he’s most thrilled that the course is back in playable shape. The neighboring short course called The Needler didn’t fare as well, and won’t be ready for play until deep into 2025, and the main course’s signature 15th hole, which jutted into a river, will need to be rebuilt. But the course is ready for 80 international players, which is something of a wonder.
“It’s very hurtful to watch something that you’ve invested your time, interest and financing in and to just watch Mother Nature take it apart. And it wasn’t as bad on the big course. On hole number 15, we’re gonna have to rebuild the greens. I’m sorry, we got a temporary and it’ll be better someday,” Robertson said. “We’re looking for ways to build this back so that it’s more fortified. But it’s ready and that’s what matters.”
Corby Robertson speaks at the Spirit International Media Day at Whispering Pines Golf Course. (Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)
Robertson, who was an All-American defensive lineman at the University of Texas, is not only eager to see the way the Spirit plays out, but he’s also looking forward to seeing how far his beloved Longhorns, ranked third in the country, can go in the College Football Playoff. He’s been impressed with coach Steve Sarkisian, who is now in his third season at the helm.
“Sark has got a really talented group of young people who are pulling the rope in the same direction. It’ll be interesting to see how far they go,” he said. “I think they could go all the way.”
Blades Brown and Gianna Clemente were named Tuesday as the American Junior Golf Association’s 2024 Rolex Junior Players of the Year.
The Rolex Junior All-America Teams annually recognize the world’s premier junior golfers. The 2024 class includes 48 boys and girls, ages 13-19, from 19 states and three countries.
Brown, a 17-year-old from Nashville, Tennesssee, finished third at the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship in a field that included 18 of the top-20 players, highlighted by 2023 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Miles Russell. He also made his PGA Tour debut this spring at the Myrtle Beach Classic. He also won medalist honors at the U.S. Junior Amateur, becoming only the third person to do so at the Junior and U.S. Amateur. He then placed second at the Junior Players.
Gianna Clemente of the United States plays her shot from the fourth tee during the final round of the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club on May 19, 2024, in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Clemente, 16, is now a five-time Rolex Junior All-American. She began the year with a top-10 finish at the Fortinet Girls Invitational and then tied for 11th at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. She also placed fifth at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur before winning the Mizuho Americas Open. Clemente was a semifinalist at the U.S. Girls’ Junior and made the Round of 32 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Brown, Clemente and the 2024 Rolex Junior All-America Teams will be honored at the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa.
Being invited to the Walker Cup practice session does not guarantee a selection to the team.
The 50th edition of the Walker Cup is less than a year away, and those looking to earn a spot on the team have an excellent opportunity to impress captain Nathan Smith in December.
The U.S. Golf Association announced Monday that 16 players have been invited to a Walker Cup practice session next month in Florida. The golfers will attend a practice session from Dec. 14-16 at McArthur Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, and The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Florida.
Smith, who will also captain the 2026 team at Lahinch Golf Club in Lahinch, Ireland, won four U.S. Mid-Amateur (2003, 2009-10, 2012) and the inaugural 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.
“The amateur golf talent in this country is impressive, and I’m thrilled to gather with this group for a practice session next month,” Smith said in a release. “We have a strong list of young men attending; a mixture of seasoned veterans as well as up-and-comers of the game. I’m excited to spend more time with this group.”
Highlighting the team is top-ranked amateur Luke Clanton, a junior at Florida State, as well as Jackson Koivun, a sophomore at Auburn who is the reigning consensus national Player of the Year. Also invited is four-time Walker Cup participant Stewart Hagestad and Ben James, a junior at Virginia who joins Hagestad as the only players invited to the session with Walker Cup experience.
The 16 players invited to the Walker Cup practice session are: Evan Beck, Parker Bell, Blades Brown, Luke Clanton, Ethan Fang, Stewart Hagestad, Max Herendeen, Ben James, Noah Kent, Jackson Koivun, Michael La Sasso, Bryan Lee, Tommy Morrison, Jase Summy, Brendan Valdes and Jackson Van Paris.
Being invited to the Walker Cup practice session does not guarantee a selection to the team. Players not invited will also be considered. Seven of the 16 players from the December 2022 Walker Cup practice session competed on the 2023 United States team, where it defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 14½-11½, at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
The 50th Walker Cup will be contested at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach, California, on Sept. 6-7, 2025. The Walker Cup is a two-day event with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes matches. The U.S. leads the overall series, 39-9-1, though its advantage is only 11-7 since 1989.
Each team is comprised of 10 players. The R&A selects members of the GB&I team.
Wenyi Ding picked up one of the biggest wins of his life Sunday.
The 19-year-old from China, who won the USGA’s 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes, captured the 2024 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Taiheiyo Club Gotemba in Japan, carding four consecutive rounds of 3-under 67 to claim the title by one shot over fellow countryman Ziqin Zhou, a freshman at California. Ding, ranked fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, earned exemptions into the 2025 Masters and 2025 Open Championship with the win, but he’s planning to pass on them.
“Before I played this, I can’t imagine I’m guarantee(d) to win this tournament,” Ding said Sunday. “So, I don’t know. It’s a problem.
“I think more likely I should take the card.”
A follow-up question was then asked about when that would happen, and Ding said maybe next week.
Wenyi Ding of China lifts the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship trophy after winning the 2024 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship being played at the Taiheiyo Club in Gotemba, Japan on Sunday 6 October 2024. Photograph by AAC.
Ding, who withdrew from Arizona State before the fall after playing the spring with the Sun Devils, is No. 1 in the Global Amateur Pathway ranking, which rewards the top non-collegiate amateur every year with a DP World Tour card. To be eligible, a player must “not be a current NCAA Division-I player” and “be at least 20 years of age by the end of the calendar year.” Ding turns 20 in November.
The winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur gets an exemption into the two major championship, with the caveat the player remains an amateur. However, Ding sounds confident he will find his way to both Augusta National and golf’s oldest major in due time.
“No matter what, I’m amateur or pro, I will still play the Masters and The Open. So if I can, I can make it later,” he said.
Last year, Ding fell in a playoff to Jasper Stubbs at Royal Melbourne to lose the Asia-Pacific Amateur. This time around, in what could be his final event as an amateur, he picked up his latest signature win and proved his worth of the professional opportunities waiting for him.
He was asked whether there would be any regrets to passing on the exemptions, to which he answered: “A person can have a lot of regrets. When I was 14, I won the amateur event in China for three years, and every time you win, you got the Volvo China Open. But the call didn’t come. So it’s hard.”
Only time will tell if and when Ding will tee it up in the major championships.
Last year, Evan Beck made it into the championship match of the U.S. Mid-Amateur but lost. This year, there was no doubt.
Beck, the 34-year-old from Virginia Beach, Virginia, topped Bobby Massa 9 and 8 on Thursday at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia. He became the first medalist or co-medalist since 2014 to take home the title, and the victory comes with plenty of perks.
With the win, Beck earns an exemption into the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club and a likely invitation to the 2025 Masters. He also has an excellent opportunity to make the Walker Cup team for the 50th edition at Cypress Point in California, as well, as the top-ranked American mid-amateur in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
“It’s pretty sweet,” Beck said. “I’ve always dreamt of winning one of these. It’s incredible that it happened so close to home. To get all the way there and come up short (twice) is gut-wrenching. To be able to push through and prove that you can do it to yourself, more than anything, it’s pretty awesome.”
Beck took an 8-up lead into the 18-hole break over Massa, a quarterfinalist at last month’s U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National in Minnesota. He won nine holes in the morning session, and then won the 19th hole to go 9 up.
Evan Beck as seen with the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy after winning the 2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va. on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Logan Whitton/USGA)
Massa, a 36-year-old from Dallas who serves as the personal trainer for USGA president Fred Perpall, has ball speeds that reach into the 190s at points and is one of the longest hitters in the game.
However, Thursday belonged to Beck, who with his victory Thursday set up what’s bound to be an incredible year of golf in 2025.
The Americans have won all four Junior Presidents Cups.
Heading into Tuesday’s singles matches, the United States led by one point. By the end of the day, it was a dominating victory.
The Americans won the 2024 Junior Presidents Cup at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Canada with a dominant showing in singles. Of the 12 matches, the Americans lost only one of them. The Charley Hoffman-led team won six singles matches, halved five and held on to win its fourth straight Junior Presidents Cup.
Mimicking the Presidents Cup, the Junior Presidents Cup features two teams made up of the top 12 male junior golfers (12-18) representing the United States and another International team representing countries around the world excluding Europe. Junior players must be at least 12 years old and no older than 18 at the start of the event. These amateur players are chosen to be on the United States team based on the Rolex AJGA Rankings and the International team based on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
It’s a two-day event, with a foursomes and four-ball session on Monday before all 12 players face off in singles Tuesday.
The United States led 6½-5½ after Monday, and Tuesday was a dominant showing in singles. Michael Riebe, Jackson Byrd, Will Hartman, Logan Reilly, Asher Vargas and Blades Brown each won their matches to retain the trophy.
Mimi Rhodes gave a subtle, but powerful fist pump, but her teammates reactions told the story.
The players from Great Britain & Ireland stood next to the 17th green, and they knew how good Rhodes’ par putt was to halve the hole. It was enough to secure, at worst, a half point. But that’s all Rhodes needed.
GB&I won its first Curtis Cup in eight years on Sunday, topping the Americans 10 ½ -9 ½ at Sunningdale in England. On a day when World No. 1 Lottie Woad and fellow stalwart Hannah Darling lost their singles matches for the hosts, it was the likes of Mimi Rhodes, her sister Patience, Sara Byrne and Lorna McClymont who carried GB&I to their ninth victory in the biennial competition.
Even with a young and inexperienced team, the Americans came into the Curtis Cup as favorites. Rachel Kuehn, playing in her third Curtis Cup, was in the anchor match Sunday and won 3 and 2 against Aine Donegan, but she was the lone player with experience in the international competition that mimics the Solheim Cup.
The young Americans, like 15-year-old Asterisk Talley and incoming USC freshman Jasmine Koo, played well. Talley knocked off Load 3 and 2 in singles while Koo topped Beth Coulter 4 and 3. However, a couple of the veterans, who waited to turn professional for a shot to play on the Curtis Cup team, were unable to win down the stretch.
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, Megan Schofill, lost 3 and 2 to Lorna McClymont. Earlier this summer, McClymont lost to Melanie Green in the final of the Women’s Amateur Championship. The win helped Green punch her ticket on the U.S. Curtis Cup team, but on Sunday, she halved her match against Mimi Rhodes in what turned out to be the clincher.
In the left trees with no second shot on the penultimate hole holding a 1-up lead, Rhodes had to punch out into the fairway for her third. She hit a brilliant shot beneath the hole to roughly 15 feet.
Green, about 40 yards further up the fairway, had a green light to try to tie the match. Her attempt sailed long and left but remained on the green.
Green’s birdie putt trickled close to the hole but didn’t fall. Rhodes responded, pouring hers in to clinch at least a half point and the ninth Curtis Cup win all-time for GB&I. Green won the closing 18th to in fact halve the match, but the U.S. fell half a point short of retaining the cup.
The Americans now own a 31-9-3 lead in the biennial competition.
The Curtis Cup, an eight-woman competition between the best amateurs from the United States against their counterparts from Great Britain and Ireland, began Friday at Sunningdale’s Old Course in England. This is the first Curtis Cup contested at Sunningdale and the 10th in England.
Here’s a look at the best photos from the 2024 Curtis Cup.
Clanton earns spots in two majors thanks to the achievement.
To say it has been the summer of Luke Clanton may be an understatement.
Five made cuts in six PGA Tour events, three of those being top-10 finishes, the first amateur to do so since Jack Nicklaus in 1961. A runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships. Three collegiate wins dating to the spring.
On Wednesday, Clanton was awarded the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading male in the 2024 World Amateur Golf Ranking.
“Winning the McCormack Medal is an honor I will cherish forever,” Clanton said in a release. “This award represents not just my efforts, but also the incredible family support I have. This will inspire me to keep pushing boundaries and to pursue my dreams with even greater determination. I’m proud to join the ranks of those who have achieved this distinction.”
Next summer, Clanton earned exemptions into the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont and the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
The American rose to the top of the men’s ranking after a Round of 64 victory at the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club last week. Over the summer, Clanton became the first amateur to record consecutive top 10s on the PGA Tour since 1958. A week after finishing T-10 in the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic, the Florida State first-team All-American finished runner-up in the John Deere Classic. He most recently recorded a solo fifth place finish at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.
Clanton also made his U.S. Open debut at Pinehurst and became the first amateur in championship history to record consecutive rounds in the 60s with back-to-back 69s in the second and third rounds. He would finish T-41.
Luke Clanton hugs his caddie after finishing No. 18 during Round 3 of Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit on Saturday, June 29, 2024.
During this past collegiate season at Florida State University, Clanton finished fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and fifth in the NCAA Stanford (Calif.) Regional, leading the Seminoles to the NCAA Championship, where they fell to Auburn in the championship final. Clanton shared runner-up honors with five other golfers in the NCAA Division I Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort’s North Course, one stroke behind winner Hiroshi Tai of Georgia Tech. Clanton went 2-1 in match play, losing to Auburn’s JM Butler in the championship match, 2 and 1.
Now, Clanton turns his sights toward earning a PGA Tour card, which he could do before finishing his junior year.
Thanks to PGA Tour University Accelerated, players earn points based on their accomplishments in college, amateur and professional golf, and they will earn PGA Tour membership if they amass at least 20 points by the end of their third year of NCAA eligibility. Clanton is at 14 points, and there’s a good chance he gets to 20 by next spring.
He gets points for every made cut and top 10 in PGA Tour events. Three points are also up for grabs for every major college golf postseason award. For majors, he gets points for competing in them, making the cut and placing top 20.
It’s likely Clanton will get a few more Tour starts, and he’s guaranteed spots in two major championships. Dominate the college level this season, win some awards, and Clanton could join Gordon Sargent as players to earn a Tour card and making the jump after the NCAA Championship next May.
